Thursday, October 6, 2011

Stars Announce Opening Day Roster, Arnason Makes Club

All of the question marks are gone on the Stars' roster as the team released their opening day line-up for the start of the AHL season tomorrow. While Texas does not play until Sunday, ten teams are in action tomorrow and even more on Saturday.

The mantra in Dallas has been to be "hard to play against" and the roster in Cedar Park seems to have taken after that as well. Between Garbutt, Gazdic, Godard, Sawada and Wathier, there is a player on every line who will take the body, mix it up in the corners and make room for the other Texas players on the ice. This squad, in terms of composition, reminds me of the Boston Bruins from last year. The team may not have a 50 goal scorer, in all likelihood, but that won't matter because the scoring will be by committee.

I wouldn't say there are any surprises on the roster, precisely. Tomas Vincour may never play another game in Cedar Park after making Dallas out of camp. Philip Larsen is more likely to be assigned at some point this season with two defensemen out of the lineup in Dallas at this moment. However, he can do his level best to make that decision difficult for Coach Gulutzan and GM Joe Nieuwendyk by playing his best on Friday and Saturday night, if called upon.

Tyler Arnason was one of those tryout guys who came up big. The veteran of 487 NHL games could be a major scoring threat in the league, but it remains to be seen and I won't make any huge predictions. If nothing else, he is a strong veteran presence for the forwards.

Players previously on the roster who are not on the opening day roster include forwards Rob Bordson and Spencer Edwards and defenseman Andrew Randazzo. Edwards and Randazzo are expected in Allen as camp begins on the 10th. It is unknown as to Bordson's future plans.

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